Fitchburg State University Overview

Fitchburg State University is a public institution situated in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Fitchburg is a good match for students who enjoy the safety and convenience of the suburbs.

What Is Fitchburg State University Known For?

• The student loan default rate at Fitchburg State is 5%, which is significantly lower than the national rate of 10.1%. That's great news for students who are worrying about paying off their student loans.
• The highest award offered at Fitchburg State is the post-master's certificate.
• For the 2019-2020 academic year, 53% of the faculty were full-time.
• Students who graduate from Fitchburg State with a bachelor's degree make about $56,865 a year. That's 39% more than those who graduate from other schools.

Fitchburg State University Rankings

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Fitchburg State.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#1	Best Value General Biology Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Value General English Literature Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#2	Best Value Biological & Biomedical Sciences Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#2	Best Value English Language & Literature Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#6	Best Value Curriculum & Instruction Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#11	Best Value History Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#12	Best Value Communication & Journalism Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#15	Best Value Law Enforcement & Firefighting Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#15	Best Value Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#55	Best Value Business, Management & Marketing Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Fitchburg State has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#1	Best Value Graduate Degree Colleges for Criminal Justice & Police Science	College Factual
#2	Best Value Graduate Degree Colleges for Behavioral Science	College Factual
#22	Best Value Graduate Degree Colleges for Curriculum & Instruction	College Factual
#35	Best Value Graduate Degree Colleges for Teacher Education Subject Specific	College Factual
#46	Best Value Colleges for Educational Administration	College Factual
#93	Best Value Graduate Degree Colleges for Education	College Factual

Where Is Fitchburg State University?

Contact details for Fitchburg State are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	160 Pearl St, Fitchburg, MA 01420-2697
Phone:	978-345-2151
Website:	www.fitchburgstate.edu
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/FitchburgStateUniversity
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/Fitchburg_State

How Do I Get Into Fitchburg State?

You can apply to Fitchburg State online at: www.fitchburgstate.edu/admissions/applying/

Admission Requirements for Fitchburg State

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	neither required nor recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	recommended
SAT or ACT Scores	considered but not required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into Fitchburg State?

With an acceptance rate of 88%, Fitchburg State is fairly easy to get into, but you must be sure to submit the required materials.

Approximately 41% of accepted students are men and 59% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 82%, and the acceptance rate for women is 93%.

Can I Afford Fitchburg State University?

The overall average net price of Fitchburg State is $25,824. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Fitchburg State, approximately 73% of students took out student loans averaging $7,392 a year. That adds up to $29,568 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Fitchburg State is 4.8%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Fitchburg State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 3,815 undergraduate students at Fitchburg State, with 2,831 being full-time and 984 being part-time.

There are also 2,913 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 2,831 full-time undergraduates at Fitchburg State, 47% are male and 53% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Fitchburg State University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	82
Black or African American	322
Hispanic or Latino	406
White	1,879
International Students	15
Other Races/Ethnicities	127

Geographic Diversity

Massachusetts students aren't the only ones who study at Fitchburg State University. At this time, 16 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 28 countries are represented at Fitchburg State. The most popular countries sending students to the school are India, China, and Germany.

Online Learning at Fitchburg State University

In 2019-2020, 6,116 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at Fitchburg State has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 4th most popular in Massachusetts for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of Fitchburg State

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at Fitchburg State University was $10,830 for in-state students. Out-of-state students paid $16,910. The following table shows how Fitchburg State is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
History	#40	#16
History	#40	#16
Accounting	#43	#34
Interdisciplinary Studies	#51	#27
Human Resource Management	#58	#56

Online Growth Rankings of Fitchburg State

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Fitchburg State University was 83.9%. This is the #469 largest growth rate of all schools that are mostly online. This refers to all students at Fitchburg State regardless of major.

The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of Fitchburg State majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Behavioral Science	17%
Communication & Journalism	22%
Communication & Media Studies	30%
Computer & Information Sciences	22%
Computer Science	38%
Health Professions	31%
History	17%
History	17%
Nursing	29%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at Fitchburg State ranks compared to all other mostly online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at Fitchburg State.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Behavioral Science	#7
Human Resource Management	#71
Teacher Education Subject Specific	#75
Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies	#109
Nursing	#114
Accounting	#130
Education	#249
Health Professions	#310
Business Administration & Management	#322
Business, Management & Marketing	#463

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

Fitchburg State University Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	TOTAL
Business Administration & Management	96	1	295	392
Curriculum & Instruction	0	0	213	213
Nursing	143	0	7	150
Special Education	5	5	96	106
Interdisciplinary Studies	98	1	0	99
Human Resource Management	0	0	88	88
Criminal Justice & Corrections	72	0	10	82
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	62	0	0	62
Educational Administration	0	20	37	57
Teacher Education Grade Specific	42	0	13	55
General Psychology	50	2	0	52
General Biology	48	0	1	49
Accounting	0	0	48	48
Computer Science	20	0	27	47
Teacher Education Subject Specific	16	1	22	39
Design & Applied Arts	35	0	0	35
Industrial Production Technology	28	0	0	28
Human Services	26	0	0	26
Communication & Media Studies	17	0	6	23
Physiology & Pathology Sciences	22	0	0	22
History	17	0	1	18
Behavioral Science	0	18	0	18
General English Literature	8	0	7	15
Mental & Social Health Services	0	0	15	15
Computer Information Systems	12	0	0	12
Political Science & Government	10	0	0	10
General Education	8	0	0	8
Geological & Earth Sciences	8	0	0	8
Architectural Sciences & Technology	7	0	0	7
Student Counseling	0	0	7	7
Economics	7	0	0	7
Drama & Theater Arts	7	0	0	7
Writing Studies	6	0	0	6
Mathematics	5	0	0	5
Health & Physical Education	5	0	0	5
Sociology	5	0	0	5
Child Development & Psychology	3	0	0	3
Chemistry	2	0	0	2
Geography & Cartography	1	0	0	1
Public Relations & Advertising	0	0	0	0
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	0	0	0	0
Liberal Arts General Studies	0	0	0	0
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	0	0	0	0
Public Administration	0	0	0	0
Arts & Media Management	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	891	48	893	1,832

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Found5dollar under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.